Holiday Season; Reason To Give Thanks

Happy Holidays Hurricane Nation. In simple terms, a hell of a year. Not too many programs or fan bases endured what the U Family took on. When you think back to this time last year, Randy Shannon was a few weeks gone, Al Golden was a few weeks on board and no one ever needed to hear the name Jon Gruden again.

7-6 came on the heels of 9-4 and with eight players NFL-bound, what was really expected year one of the Golden era, entering 2011?

A recruiting class disaster averted. Some bad seeds got the boot. A life-sized scandal. Suspensions. Injuries. Depth woes. Heartbreaking losses. A .500 season and a surrendered bowl game.

Not exactly the way anyone drew it up and arguably your worst-case scenario when sitting back last December, wondering where this year was going to go.

There are a few camps regarding where things sit and where they appear to be headed. Some see glimmers of hope, realizing that this mess took years to create and will take years to fix.

Timing-wise, on the heels of a bad run, everyone is impatient and wants change, but a half decade of down years happened for a reason and this is a rut that has to be worked out of. It’s a bitter pill, but one that the logical have swallowed, seeing enough in the blueprint and new type of management-style that will in time yield results.

Others want it fixed yesterday, period. Explanations are viewed as excuses and there’s no gray area. A 6-6 season was “unacceptable”. Miami should’ve improved simply by the coaching change and in spite of personnel losses (re: eight to the NFL). A loss is a loss is a loss, too. Nothing to take from a contest where the Canes came up short. No baby steps. Make the leap, already.

Unfortunately, that “win today” mentality leaves out the entire concept of rebuilding. It’s akin to the underwear gnomes’ profit plan on an ancient episode of South Park.

Phase One: 35-29 between 2006 and 2010.

Phase Two : ?.

Phase Three : Compete for national championships.

In whichever camp one resides, so be it. This thing will either fix itself under Golden and staff, or it won’t. Arguing the hypothetical in the meantime is pointless, unless you’re bored and are up for a debate.

Whatever the case, the following 7:54 montage put together by our friend Canesfreak2001 is a solid journey back over the past few months of Miami football and it’s worth the watch and should assist even the biggest skeptic into ‘the process’ and what it will take to get on top again.

Watching this piece, compiled from game footage, interviews and the Canes All Access series put together by UM (and wisely-scored with an Explosions In The Sky soundtrack which gives that ‘Friday Night Lights’ air of overcoming challenge and adversity), it reminds you that there are many layers to this game, these players and coaches, as well as characters, personalities and sub plots.

Great teams don’t just wake up and piss excellence, a la Ricky Bobby. (Google it if you don’t know.) They earn their stripes. They’re built from the ground up, achieve and from there are afforded the ability to reload, barring coaches know how to operate the machine.

The Miami Hurricanes have been a full-blown non-factor since the 2003 season and all the hope in the world isn’t going to will this program back to greatness. The process is what gets you back on track and in time, if it all comes together, you succeed.

Watch this eight-minute clip and get a better feel for what this year’s team and coaches went through. You celebrate their small victories and will see the suffering endured when coming up short.

The scoreboard isn’t always the most accurate gauge for growth. 6-6 doesn’t sound much different than 7-6, but in this case they’re a world apart.

Enjoy this holiday season and attempt to bring some perspective to your relationship with MIami Hurricanes football and this coaching staff. Year one is in the books and year two is about to kick off. Get your minds right, enjoy this final week of the year and shift your focus to the recruiting game as Signing Day is just over a month out.

Happy Holidays Hurricane Nation and a special thanks to this coaching staff, these players and our loyal U Family and customer base. We’re nothing without you and look forward to joining up for this ride back to the top. Go Canes. It’s still great to be …

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